Video rental stores have provided a sort of “video on demand”, subject, of course, to the high cost of video cassette purchases by the rental stores, as well as the high capital outlay for real estate (land and building) and the cost of labor at the stores. Even when a video becomes available through video release, a viewer's ability to watch the video at a chosen time is subject to availability of the video at the store, round-trip transportation to the store and the potential problems with late returns, damaged videos, lost videos, etc.
True video-on-demand has been envisioned whereby massive video servers would be positioned in various geographic locations to transfer high speed video data streams to the houses of individual viewers at any time a viewer wishes to access a particular movie or other content. However, this type of video demand system, after years and billions of dollars of investment, has proven to be too complex and expensive and, therefore, has not been implemented.
A type of on-demand video distribution system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,287, whereby video-on-demand and network programming is provided from master file and network program databases through multiple community systems, each of which may serve up to approximately one hundred homes. The '287 systems have severe limitations in terms of storage capability and customer options.
An interactive viewing system that automatically records selected programs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,763. However, the '763 system simply provides another mechanism for recording television programs. This system attempts to simplify the VCR recording function, but has not been widely adopted because of its complex nature and limited benefits.
A system that “blanket” transmits video/audio content such as movies, via satellite downlink transmission, for example, to each customer's recording, storage and playback system is disclosed in United States Patent Application 20020056118. Customers may pre-select from a list of available movies or other content in advance using an interactive screen selector, and then pay for the content that is actually viewed. This system just broadcasts movies, and the viewer typically has very limited choices.
According to another known rental and distribution scheme, subscribers pay a monthly flat rate, and visit an Internet site to choose movies to rent. Up to three movies at a time are then mailed directly to the subscribers, who can keep the rentals as long as they like, without incurring late fees. New movies can be rented as soon as previous rentals are returned in a postage-paid envelope provided with each rental.
Other known systems such as Intertainer™ and Movielink™, a joint venture of MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios, allow consumers to legally obtain and watch movies on a personal computer. After choosing a film and paying for it by credit card, viewers download it to their computer's hard drive, where it can be stored for up to 30 days. However, once the viewer selects a “play” function for the film, it may be watched as often as a consumer likes in a 24-hour period, after which any downloaded files for the film are deleted. In this approach, copy protection can potentially be compromised since all information necessary to decrypt film files is stored on the viewer's computer.